Cloud file management company Openera bought by LiveQoS for its file compression tech

Year-old FounderFuel graduate Openera, which I called “the Passbook of files” when it launched in November of 2012, has been bought by LiveQoS, a company focused on data stream compression and management for improved delivery of real-time applications to mobile devices over third-party networks.

Openera’s main business focus, which allowed users to automatically store, sort, and find any file sent via email, Dropbox, or other cloud-based services, doesn’t appear to be the primary target of the acquisition. Rather, LiveQoS is looking for Openera’s file compression technology.

“Openera offered the perfect technology to compliment our current QoS applications,” Martin Horne, CEO of LiveQoS, said in a statement. “Much like Onavo — on the consumer side — offers compression for Facebook, Openera enables LiveQoS to offer compression to the mobile business user … bringing on Openera and the team will allow us to launch a Cloud Services business that will ensure the best possible user experience for mobile users.”

Essentially, that means video that doesn’t pixelate, shudder, or grind to a halt, and internet-connected applications that remain responsive and usable even under poor network conditions. LiveQoS provides technology that app developers and companies can integrate into their mobile solutions.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but it appears to be a bit of an acqui-hire.

Openera CEO Peter Lalonde will join LiveQoS as VP of Cloud Services, and the development group will augment the LiveQoS team. The acquisition price was likely not massive — after only about $1 million in seed funding, LiveQoS had what the company called a B round of investment in 2010, in which terms were also not disclosed. So while the little-known company is likely profitable and funding ongoing operations via sales, there doesn’t appear to be a huge amount of capital behind it.

There were clearly areas of synergy, Lalonde said.

“Openera was founded with the vision of the open cloud, making life easier for mobile employees while simultaneously meeting the security and control needs of enterprises moving to the cloud,” the new LiveQoS VP said. “This acquisition super charges our file compression and transfer technology for mobile users who need to find files fast while on the road. Now, with LiveQoS our partners can offer a higher quality of experience for their customers that rely on the cloud.”

LiveQoS says it is “the #1 provider of end-to-end QoS solutions for real-time applications,” and says it can “find and fix the problems on any wired and wireless network.”